Steel plant closing 'cuts deep' in Hennepin

Monday

Like many sons, Brian Burress followed his dad into the steel mill. They were good jobs, best in the county, with wages you could raise a family on and benefits coveted by most.

Like many sons, Brian Burress followed his dad into the steel mill. They were good jobs, best in the county, with wages you could raise a family on and benefits coveted by most.

But now the company that owns the steel plant - ArcelorMittal, the fourth owner - has decided to close it, and Burress; his dad, Don; and about 285 others are out of a job. Layoffs started Feb. 20, and now only 25 workers are still in the plant, left for "asset protection," says Duane Calbow, vice president of United Steelworkers Local 7367 and chairman of the Putnam County Board.

"The bush is burning, and we need help, and we need it now. Time is running out," says Calbow, who hears the company "may have plans to take our critical equipment out of the mill and take it to other countries and operate it there.

"Maybe it's time everyone step up in the whole area, not just Putnam County. I don't want this to happen to anybody, to let other companies think they can do this, take machinery to other countries and run the stuff we've done here for years."

Citing "duplication" in some of the processes performed in Hennepin and other plants, the company "had to make the tough decision to close the Hennepin facility, consolidate operations and move production to other ArcelorMittal facilities in the U.S.," a company spokesman said when the closure was first announced in December.

The plant was completed in 1966 and originally owned and operated by Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. It later was taken over by LTV Corp. and then International Steel Group Inc. before its current ownership.

Over all those years, it has been the economic backbone for the region, offering the best jobs around.

"The sad part about it is we've had people leave other jobs to come here to better themselves, and now they just got the rug pulled out from underneath them," Calbow said. "We're not just trying to save this mill for us - it's us and future generations. It's going to really hurt the area, the whole Putnam County area. Probably 60 percent live outside Putnam County."

Brian Burress, 36, lives close to the plant in nearby Granville. He's been there 11 years, raising a family of five mostly on his income. His wife works at OfficeMax.

"I need to find a job. I need to find a good job. I'm going to hope the economy turns around before my unemployment and supplemental benefits run out so that I can find a job," Brian Burress said. "I'm hoping they either continue to run this mill or they sell it to someone who will run it."

A worker information meeting held Feb. 11 spelled out options available to the workers, including how to apply for unemployment benefits and job retraining. More than 65 workers came to the afternoon session, one of several offered. The packed union hall was quiet as they flipped through the paperwork. One man scribbled a question mark over the health care benefit section.

"As soon as you're not working, don't wait. File. I can't stress this enough," Ann Robinson of the Illinois Department of Employment Security told them about filing for unemployment. "I don't know why people are waiting. It's important."

As much as they're dealing with the daily facts of being unemployed, many of them are also struggling with the emotions of sudden life change. Don Burress calls it a "bombshell."

"We've run this plant pretty lean for this company, and they just throw us out to the wind," says Don Burress, who remembers the days when there were 600 employees under previous owners. At 59, he's worked 41 years at the plant and raised five children. He plans to take unemployment as long as he can and then take the retirement severance package.

"I wasn't quite ready for it. I was planning on working to at least 62, but you're not going to find a job at 59 or 60 the way unemployment is today," he said.

The union leadership is also struggling with why, given that the plant has always made money, they say.

"We are profitable, even in the worst times here. That's something we're proud of," Calbow says. "What we have now is just a company that wants to close it and is very resistant to even let anyone in to operate it, to purchase it. We have a good asset, and we've got an employer who doesn't want to sell. Why? We don't understand. They say we'd be too much competition to them. Other companies are scheduling to build new facilities that do what we do."

Calbow's almost at a loss to explain how much of a crisis this closure will be to the area if he can't get political leaders to help or the company to reconsider.

"It cuts deep to people. We've got to get this company to understand it's not just all about them, it's how they're destroying a piece of America."

Jennifer Davis can be reached at (309) 686-3249 or jdavis@pjstar.com.

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